The Yankees hired a full-time female minor league hitting coach,who is believe t
o be the first woman in the position for a big league team,The New York Times re
ported Friday.
Rachel Balkovec,32,signed a contract with Yankees on Nov.8 to become a roving in
structor,MLB.com reported.She will attend the team’s spring training in Tampa o
n Feb.1.
Club officials told the Times they chose Balkovec because of her two master’s d
egrees in the science of human movement and her other experience at minor league
clubs.
“It’s an easy answer to why we chose Rachel for this role,”Yankees hitting co
ordinator Dillon Lawson told the Times.”She’s a good hitting coach,and a good
coach,period.”
Balkovec served as a part-time strength and conditioning coach for the St. Louis
Cardinals before being chosen as the minor league strength and conditioning coo
rdinator for the team for the2014-2015 season.She was the first woman to have th
e full-time strength and conditioning position in major league-affiliated baseba
ll,according to the Times.
She also worked as the Astro’s Latin American strength and conditioning coach f
or the double-A Corpus Christi Hooks, according to the newspaper.
In August, she started working at Driveline Baseball, a data-driven performance
training center in Washington, where she conducted research on eye tracking for
hitters and hip movement for pitchers.
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